Impact on agriculture and biodiversity
When war breaks out, environmental impacts are often overlooked, but their long-term effects are catastrophic. In Lebanon, agriculture, essential to the survival of many communities, suffers irreversible damage during times of war.
The ongoing war not only destroys infrastructure but also harms the land, water, and ecosystems that sustain the population. Agricultural land is contaminated, water resources are polluted, and biodiversity crucial for soil fertility is threatened.
In this section, explore how the bombings in Lebanon undermine agriculture, exacerbate food security challenges, and compromise the country's ability to recover from growing environmental crises
Food Security at Risk
War devastates agricultural land and destroys essential infrastructure, compromising access to food in regions already weakened by climate change. With arable land destroyed, food insecurity intensifies, and these areas' ability to cope with droughts and extreme heat collapses, further exacerbating long-term food security risks.
Contaminated Soils, Unusable Land
Heavy metals and toxins left by conflicts — lead, depleted uranium, and other war remnants — pollute the soil for decades, making agriculture impossible on these lands. Landmines and unexploded ordnance also turn fields into dangerous zones, severely limiting agricultural production and accelerating soil degradation.
Ecosystems and Biodiversity at Risk
War not only destroys natural habitats through deforestation and the draining of wetlands but also causes massive biodiversity loss. Military vehicle movement, explosions, and infrastructure development disrupt ecosystems, threatening high biodiversity areas and local species. In the face of this chaos, already vulnerable species — displaced by noise, disturbances, and pollution — are nearing extinction, further accelerating biodiversity decline.